bigfatpaulie
Headphoneus Supremus
Thanks for asking. Not really to be honest. It's really hard to say something about this amp that either yourself or Loquah hasn't already. It truly is a lovely amp, particularly with the HD800's.
I was originally planning on doing a Stratus VS Mainline and I started doing it... I got to page 7 (MS Word, size 11 font) and thought this is silly.... I could blab on forever.
In short summery: (IE, this is excerpt of part of it... Yeah... Talk about verbal diarrhea. Also, this is an unfinished first draft, so it is what it is...)
{Please note, the blow post is IMHO and YMMV and don’t take to heart if you feel differently.}
{I’m not a writer and I am sloppy with the terminology and often can’t articulate what I hear so you will have to bear with me. }
The Mainline is Bottlehead statement headphone amplifier that boasts an output of about 600mW. But who cares about numbers: how does this thing sound?
I can save you some time. It sounds really good with HD800’s and if you aren’t afraid of building one you probably will never find something that will best it sonically for similar money.
Who am I kidding… We are “headiophiles” (your heard it here first, folks!*) and we want to know how this thing stacks up to one of the other top dog HD800 amps: The DNA Stratus. I’m not going to do a review of the Mainline because I can in no way shape or form add to Loquah’s already amazing review of it. If you haven’t read it, forget this and go read that. Go ahead. I’ll wait…
In the left corner, the no fuss, no muss, right down to business, the Bottlehead Mainline handsomely equipped with Auricap XO’s but otherwise stock.
And in the other corner, the playful, the whimsical ooooooooooooooooold big blue, the DNA Stratus paired with Sophia Princess 2A3 Mesh Plates, EML 5U4G and a Pearl Reflektor 6N1P-EV "Gold Grade" but otherwise stock. It is the latest version with addition chokes, etc.
I want to put the cost of these amps out there because I do feel it is relevant. The Mainline is $1200 and the upgraded capacitors were about $115 bringing it in at $1315. The Stratus is $2700 and the tubes were an about an extra $750 bringing the amp in at a hefty $3450 – Nearly three times the price of the Mainline.
I used the HD800’s, LCD3f’s and Hififan He-5 modified Code-X’s with the amp. The source is a Bricasti M1 and everything is powered by a PS Audio P3 regenerator.
Neither the DNA nor the Mainline can drive the Code-X’s well at all. If you have He-6’s, don’t get either of these amps; but I don’t think that is a shock to anyone. I felt the Mainline did a better job with the LCD3’s than the Stratus but I do suspect that that has much to do with my particular tube arrangement on the Stratus more than the amp itself, however. My impressions below are done with HD800’s because both amps shine with them.
I’ll start with the end. The Stratus, to my ears, is the superior amp with the HD800’s. It is not only technically better across the board but it is also a more pleasant listening experience. The Stratus has an amazing ability to add a marvelous smoothness to everything without glazing over any detail. The DNA amp adds soul to music, it gets my toes tapping, the hairs on my neck standing up and, most importantly, when I listen to it I forget about the “system” and get totally lost in the music. Is it the perfect amp with the HD800’s? Maybe, I don’t know. What I do know is that it is so good I don’t care. The Mainline, although excellent, does fall short of the stratospheric standard set by the Stratus. But who’s surprised at 1/3 the cost? After all, there are no free rides in life.
But how big is the difference? Hard to say, it’s subjective, YMMV, different strokes for different folks and I’m not an audio reviewer nor do I have golden ears. And I do want to point out that the Stratus is widely regarded as one of the best amps for the HD800’s, if not the best.
Methodology: I played the song on one amp, wrote down what I heard/though in regards to a specific aspect, switched sources and headphone cord, and listened again. It’s the best I can do for an A/B.
Bass vs Bass
Barenaked Ladies - Hello City
Gordon has always been one of my “go to” CD’s. It’s remarkable well recorded, easy going fun music. It probably seems like an odd choice of song for bass listening but it has this really nice controlled bass line that is subdued and come out very muddled on many systems. It is actually pretty tough to get this to not sound monotone. The Stratus does a marvelous job of it: it’s rich, deep and detailed with a nice tactile feel. The Mainline also did extremely and kept paces nicely with the Stratus. The bass was more separated with Mainline from the rest of the music.
Daft Punk – Instant Crush
This is another very well done album. It’s songs like this where the Stratus shows its teeth. The bass is far more present on the Stratus. The Mainline sounds weaker and less available. The Mainline sounds more reserved, like it doesn’t want to get its hands dirty here. The bass goes deeper on the Stratus vs the Mainline. That said I was A/Bing the two and I had to look at the amps and take note of which I was listening too. The differences were small.
Tea Party – Temptation
Finally, something not immaculately recorded. It’s a gritty rock CD from the 90’s. And you know what? The two amps sounded very similar here. Hello City had obvious differences, Instant Crush less so and this track... Not so much. The Stratus has a little more slam again, but they were similar.
Mids vs Mids
Buddy Guy - Bad Life Blues
Maybe this should have been a bass track. Buddy rocks it out with the best of them in one of his signature tracks. The Stratus has clearly richer mids: the voice and guitar and meaty. They are tangible. They have an incredible life like fullness. The Mainline sounds good, just small by comparison. In one case I am in the room with the band and in the other case I am listening to a great reproduction of them playing in a room.
The Tragically Hip - Poets
Oh Gordon Downie… I love your quirky voice. Again, the Mainline is showing up to play, and certainly can hold its own, but the Stratus is just a master of mids. The un-smooth texture of Downie’s voice is there. This song can easily have everything blurred together but each instrument had its own place behind the lead letting the richness come forward. The instruments with the Mainline were, again, thinner sounding.
Eva Cassidy – Stormy Monday (Live at Blues Alley)
I ********* LOVE Stormy Monday. I don’t even care who sings it. I use Stormy Monday twice in this review and I don’t care: deal with it. When Eva belts out “Loooooooooooooord have mercy” she absolutely kills it. I know her voice is on the high end of the mids, but for each category I am trying to pick songs that have a “low, medium, high” gradation. The Mainline makes her sound a little nasally and lost a bit of the clarity in her voice.
Highs vs Highs
Count Basie, Big Joe Turner, Eddie ‘Cleanhead’ Vinson – Cherry Red
There is something very special about well reproduced brass. The Mainline again shows why it is a world class amp. All the bass is remarkably well rendered on both amps. The trump is just magic on this track when property controlled and piercing if not and it was very enjoyable on both amps. The Stratus did eek out just a little more texture, though.
Rodrigo Y Gabriela – Syf
What audio review would be complete without something from Gabriela? Highs and upper mids can have weight and these amps bring it. The performance is remarkably similar. They are both, fast, detailed and dynamic. You can feel the strings being plucked. Both amps presented everything very cleanly and accurately. There was no HD800 hump to be bothered by with my un-modded cans.
Michael Jackson – Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
I have his “Number One’s” cd and that’s the version I used (I'm generally not a big MJ fan but he has his moments). The air around the highs more obvious on the Stratus, but again, both amps did really well. I find the Mainline to be a traditionally more solid state sounding and the Stratus more tubey**. I know a lot people hate those terms, etc. But I mean them to mean detailed and accurate vs liquid and involving respectively. Both amps presented Jackson’s voice and accompaniments effortlessly and without fatigue. Everything has more room around itself with the Stratus, however.
Goosebumps
B.B. King and Albert Collins – Stormy Monday
If you can get your hands on a high quality complete (11:30 long) version of this song, do it. King’s soulful voice is presented comes though on the Stratus made me forget I was taking notes… Several times. Collins comes out of the wood work a few minutes in and his whisky soaked voice is so believable. You can see where the two are sitting in relation to each other on the Stratus. The Mainline pushes them together too much. The performance is just electric and alive with the Stratus.
(I removed a lot of other sections I have half done like male, female vocals, spatialization, sound stageing, imaging, and so on...)
So I rant a lot about the Stratus here... It's no wonder it is often considered the best amp for the HD800's. A lot of all this, however, has to do with personal preference. The Stratus is a warmer amp than the Mainline and I find that mixes well with the HD800's. The Mainline is much more neutral. It's actually much more similar to my SuSy Dynahi in signature which also happens to be considered one of the best solid state amps for the HD800's. The Mainline is somewhere in between the two for voicing, but much closer to the Dynahi. As a side note, the Dynahi (also a DIY amp) cost more to build than the Mainline.
The Mainline has a smaller sound stage than the Stratus, and with the HD800's, I found it was actually a GOOD thing. The HD800's with the Stratus can sound a little disconnected and the Mainline had better left to right coherency.
The Mainline is an outstanding amp for the HD800’s. The HD800’s are a picky pair and sound worse than most other headphones with the wrong gear. I find the HD800’s performance is almost binary: either they are terrible or world class, but never mediocre. With the Mainline, they are indeed world class. All the issues with lesser amps found with the HD800s (simblance, lack of bass, etc)
If I had never heard the Stratus, would be I perfectly happy with the Mainline? For sure. The Mainline is certainly end game worthy and does everything really well. The sound stage is large and deep and everything has a nice weight to it. It really is just a great, neutral all around performer and a steal of a deal price.
*I Googled it and I guess other people have used the world before, but not really in the same context, so I’m still claiming it as mine as there is nothing you or anyone else can do about it MUAWHAHAHAHA!!!
** When I say "tubey" sounding or "solid state" sounding I mean tubey to be with a more forward a lush mid-range and a syrupy quality. SS being flatter across the spectrum with a faster, tighter presentation.
